L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ:FSTR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ:FSTR) saw a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 177,068 shares, an increase of 93.5% from the May 31st total of 91,517 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 76,939 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on L.B. Foster from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded L.B. Foster from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded L.B. Foster from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised L.B. Foster from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, L.B. Foster currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in L.B. Foster by 13.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,941 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,869 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of L.B. Foster by 74.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 21,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 9,191 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of L.B. Foster by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in L.B. Foster in the 1st quarter worth about $354,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in L.B. Foster in the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.63% of the company’s stock.

L.B. Foster Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:FSTR traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.67. 40,717 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 74,568. L.B. Foster has a one year low of $21.67 and a one year high of $45.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.84. The company has a market cap of $467.25 million, a PE ratio of 43.37 and a beta of 1.15.

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.36. L.B. Foster had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 6.36%. The business had revenue of $121.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $104.30 million. Equities analysts predict that L.B. Foster will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

L.B. Foster Company Profile

L.B. Foster Company is a diversified infrastructure solutions provider offering products and services to the transportation, energy, and construction markets. Founded in 1902 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company has built a reputation for delivering specialty materials and engineering solutions that support critical infrastructure projects across various industries.

The company’s operations are organized into three primary segments: Rail Products & Services, Construction Products, and Tubular & Energy Products.